


Got It in a Bad Way

by Heartbreakmosh (PompousPickle)



Series: If Not For Him, I Wouldn't Be As Strong [1]
Category: Professional Wrestling, みちのくプロレス | Michinoku Pro Wrestling
Genre: Complicated Relationships, Explicit Sexual Content, Feelings Realization, M/M, Piercings, Rivals, Secret Relationship, The “oh” moment but it’s Different
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-27
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-19 02:48:26
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29743824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PompousPickle/pseuds/Heartbreakmosh
Summary: “You should get more piercings, if they make you act like this.”Or: Hayato gets a 5th ear piercing.
Relationships: Fujita "Jr." Hayato/Kenoh
Series: If Not For Him, I Wouldn't Be As Strong [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2206836
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	Got It in a Bad Way

**Author's Note:**

> Set around April or May 2012, after Kenoh forming Asura but before Hayato won the title back from Kenoh in June. (So if you're keeping track, in between chapters 3 and 4 in [As You Walk On By](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28945530?view_full_work=true)). 
> 
> Inspired by a conversation with [shiranuikai](https://archiveofourown.org/users/shiranuikai/pseuds/shiranuikai/) about Hayato's "distinct affinity" for his piercings. So thank you for my life.

_ “You should get more piercings, if they make you act like this.”  _

The words played back in Hayato’s head for nearly a month. He hated it, really. He hated remembering the hot breath on his ear, fingers tugging on his piercings until the cartilage stretched and ached. He hated remembering Kenoh’s fond laughter, licking on the inside of the helix of his ear, suggesting he get another piercing there. Just for him.

He hated remembering how much that turned him on. How much it still turned him on, staring at the little gold ring in the locker room mirror, just above the sink, skin red and sensitive from the brand new piercing. 

They were the words of a greedy man lost to his own lust, Hayato reminded himself. He didn’t mean anything by them. Kenoh wouldn’t even notice, wouldn’t even remember. It was Hayato’s fault for letting the words sink into his head like a command. 

He splashed his face with cold water and let the sink run as he shook himself back to reality, trying to focus on the day’s match. It was only then he realized that the rest of Bad Boy had already left, their words echoing down the hallway where Hayato could barely even register them. He turned off the faucet, only now realizing that he was alone. 

“That’s new.” 

Kenoh’s voice bounced halfway across the room, closing the door behind him with a firm click, before the other members of Asura could enter. He had every intent on driving Hayato out, but then he saw the other man, standing by the sink, the locker room lights hitting his pale skin, catching on his gold earrings. Catching on the new one, just along the edge of his right ear. 

Kenoh stepped closer, to get a better look. He could almost still feel his tongue there, running along the edge as Hayato thrashed and moaned from under him, fingers tangled in Kenoh’s hair. He felt far away, even as he walked closer to Hayato, his mouth already watering. 

“What of it?” Hayato tried not to acknowledge the immediate irony of Kenoh noticing before he even got in the ring. Of course he remembered. Of course he knew. “It’s a good look. It suits me.” 

“It does,” was all Kenoh said, voice low as he joined Hayato at the sink, tossing down his bag and turning to the other man. He raised his hand and grabbed for Hayato’s jaw, and was rendered nearly breathless when the other man didn’t fight back. Kenoh gently tilted Hayato's head, appraising him. “It’s just like I imagined…” 

Kenoh’s voice was painfully soft, and all at once Hayato realized how little time they had before their match, and how much he wished they had all the time in the world. “I didn’t do it for you.” He placed his hand on Kenoh’s forearm, but made no effort to remove the other man’s hand. Not even when Kenoh hummed and moved his hand up to his ear, pulling on the lobe, fingers gripped around the lower hoops. 

Hayato gasped and hated the way it echoed around the empty locker room. 

“No. I suppose not.” Kenoh moved his fingers upward, gingerly, his chest nearly pushed against Hayato’s, Kenoh still in street clothes and Hayato ready for the ring. He couldn’t feel Hayato’s skin, but he could feel the way his chest was breathing shallowly. He wanted to savor it. “But still, I’m…” 

He rested the tips of his fingers on the brand new piercing, and was finally slapped away, Hayato’s limit finally reached. 

“It’s not healed yet, you dumb bastard.” Hayato kicked gently at Kenoh’s bag, shoving it closer towards the other man, silently telling him to get a move on. Soon the rest of Asura would get tired of waiting for them, no matter how much they feared and respected Kenoh.

Kenoh took the hint and picked up his bag. “You don’t need to tell me that,  _ asshole _ ,” he clicked his tongue, throwing his bag over his shoulder. 

Kenoh walked towards the changing room, sparing only a single glance at Hayato, his browline softening for a moment when he caught the earring in the fluorescent lights once again. “But...I do hope it heals soon.” 

Kenoh disappeared behind the stall with a click and Hayato grunted, storming out of the locker room without another word, his piercing throbbing like he had just walked out of the parlor seconds ago, fresh and vulnerable. 

\---

Kenoh didn’t touch it the entire match. Didn’t even look at it, if he could help it. He barely tagged in if he didn’t have to, hanging out on the ropes with a tiny smile tugging on his lips as he watched Taro and Rui tear the rest of Bad Boy apart. It almost frustrated Hayato. He had a clear weak point, burning under the gymnasium lights. And Kenoh refused to take advantage. He had never given up an opportunity before, never above cheating, above exploiting Hayato's weaknesses. But Hayato had completely exposed himself, and now Kenoh was refusing to even  _ touch  _ him. 

So when Kenoh finally tagged in, Hayato hit harder than ever, pulling at every limb to tear him apart, every move designed to send a message. Hayato wasn’t in his own head, like he normally was during matches. He wasn’t lost in the fight, overcome with the world around him. Every single movement was sharp and calculated. Too calculated. 

Kenoh hated when he could tell his rival was distracted. He hated when he was distracted too. “You shouldn't wear it in the ring again,” He hissed under his breath, as Hayato pulled him up and locked his arms around Kenoh’s chin. He knew Hayato had heard him, from the way he moved his hand into his hair and pulled. The rest of Bad Boy came in, kicking at Kenoh in his vulnerable state, his shouts of pain turning the entire match into a brawl as all of Asura ran in to help. 

When Kenoh finally got away, he slid to the other side of the ring, watching the chaos unfold, tongue over his lips as his thoughts ran away with him. Hayato looked at him from his own corner, glaring at him through the sprawl of limbs between them. And his veins grew cold at the realization that there were lines that Kenoh simply didn’t want to cross. That he didn’t want to take advantage of something that belonged to only the two of them. 

As soon as he could safely remove the earring, he dropped it into his travel bag and he tried to forget about it. 

\---

A week later, Kenoh asked about it, because he never knew how to leave well enough alone. “You don’t wear it anymore.” 

“I thought you liked it when I followed orders.” Hayato mocked dryly, no small amount of irritation in his voice. 

“In the ring. I was clear about that and you know why. Did you not like how it looked?” Kenoh leaned against a locker and licked his lips, betraying his feelings. It was not a gesture unnoticed by Hayato, his eyes following his tongue as they so often did. 

“What do you fucking care?” Hayato turned to shut his locker, grabbing his shirt and pulling it over his head. He opened his bag and grabbed for his beanie next. His fingers brushed the small box continuing the earring. He never ended up removing it from the bag, after all. He paused completely, glancing up at Kenoh, face still furrowed in a clear frown. 

“Because I…! I liked it, you idiot. But if you didn’t, there’s no fucking point.” Kenoh clenched and unclenched his jaw, a snarl at the edge of voice. 

He really was going to make him say it, Hayato realized. It was so like Kenoh. Even after two years, the man wanted everything to go as planned. He wanted everything by design and had all the arrogance in the world to get him there. Hayato rolled his eyes. “I liked it too much.” He finally pulled out the little black box and stood up, showing it to Kenoh, eyebrows raised as if trying to prove a point. “Happy now?” 

Kenoh’s breath caught in his throat at the sight of the box, and it was all he could do to turn it into a seemingly unaffected hum. He had suspected the answer, but hearing it out loud had a bigger effect on him than he thought it would. “Meet me at our usual place? I called in advance. Room 216.” 

Hayato rolled his eyes. Of course he did. “Sure. Whatever.” He opened the box and pulled out the piercing, feeling for the hole in his ear as he slid it in. Kenoh’s eyes grew, his brow twitching and his tongue darting out to his lips. Hayato couldn't help but smirk. He wondered if Kenoh would stop him, if he was going to be the same greedy man that took everything for himself, from the Tohoku Junior Championship to the jewelry hanging from Hayato’s ear. He wondered if Kenoh wanted to be the only person who saw this piece of him. 

Hayato wanted that out of Kenoh, but he knew he'd never say it.

Kenoh didn’t say anything either. His fingers twitched, wanting to touch, knowing he’d only be swatted away. It would be better this way, he decided. Hayato on the train to the hotel, no one else knowing the meaning of the earring on the helix of man’s ear. No one knowing it was a symbol of their secrets. No one knowing it belonged in part to Kenoh. 

Hayato left first, similarly quiet. However he caught his reflection in a mirror as he walked past, the extra metal against the shaved side of his head. His hand brushed by it, before moving up to run his fingers through his curls. He imagined what that little gesture did to Kenoh, sitting on a bench watching him pass, and he smiled. 

\---

Kenoh was all over Hayato the second he made it through the door, keyed up from the drive, intentionally running every thought through his head until they wore his nerves and patience down to the core. He bit at Hayato’s left earlobe, backing him towards the wall, unleashing it all. 

Hayato dropped his bag and let himself get pulled into Kenoh's whims, pushing and pulling at each other like a pair of teenagers. Kenoh’s fingers ran along the shaved sides of his hair, sending gentle shocks of electricity through Hayato's scalp as his eyes fluttered close. A few seconds later, those same fingers shifted lower, towards his right ear, Kenoh’s mouth on his throat as his hand searched to find Hayato’s newest piercing. 

"You're obsessed with it." Hayato laughed breathlessly, rolling back his head, dizzy with this newfound power over his rival. 

Kenoh responded with a noncommittal hum against Hayato’s skin. It wasn't the first time he had been accused of obsession. And he was certain it wouldn't be the last. But it was never over something so small, so tangible. Usually his focus lied with Hayato. With breaking him down and building him back up. With bringing the audience a thrilling story of a hero and a villain. With making Michinoku Pro an exciting world to visit. Rarely were his obsessions as small as an earring, glimmering in the dim lamp light for only Kenoh to see. 

It would be fine, he decided as he pulled his head up to look at it, to indulge in this detail for the night. To let it become the only thing he cared about. 

He played with it, almost idly, flicking it back and forth with his finger until he heard Hayato hiss with impatience. He pinched his fingers around it and gently pulled in response, revelling in Hayato's quiet gasp. 

Hayato threw his head back to give Kenoh more space, mouth open, and thought that maybe he could develop an obsession or two of his own. He thought maybe in that moment that he already had. And when Kenoh whispered "Let's get in bed" in the very same ear, Hayato didn't think he'd ever get it out of his head. 

Kenoh didn’t leave Hayato untouched all the way to the bed, pulling at the flannel over his shirt, and then at the shirt itself, leaving a trail of clothing in their wake. Hayato grabbed his shoulders as soon as they reached the foot of the bed, kissing him hard to still Kenoh’s hands, both reeling at how thoroughly they had memorized the layout of this hotel in the five short months since kissing in the back of auditoriums stopped being enough. Hayato unbuttoned Kenoh’s jeans with a single hand, and the man beneath him rewarded him with a satisfied huff, close to his right ear, tongue lapping out ever so slightly. 

“ _ Fuck _ .” Hayato didn’t think he was all that sensitive until Kenoh had started to pull him apart. 

Kenoh pulled back to look at Hayato, to marvel at him for a moment. It had been two and a half years since they met, and they had both changed beyond Kenoh’s wildest imagination. But Hayato standing over him- hunger echoing in his eyes for miles- took Kenoh back to 2009. It made him feel young and loyal, eager for a fight, eager to prove himself, desperate to find a place where he belonged. The weight of the Tohoku Junior belt didn’t feel so heavy when Hayato looked at him like that. 

He kissed him, before the words could spill out. Before he said something that couldn’t ever be taken back, something that would never heal. 

Hayato kissed him back, hungry as he pushed Kenoh up to the bed, crawling on after him, crawling over him, smoothing Kenoh down until he was underneath him and ripe for the taking. And just as he always did when he was lost in his thoughts, Kenoh licked his lips, long and slow and needy, working his way back to the pillows and hoisting himself onto his elbows. He kept blinking, and Hayato slid his thigh in against Kenoh’s clothed erection, grinding brutally, if only to stop him from looking at him like that. Like he was anything other than his bitter, fated rival. 

Suddenly the piercing in his ear stung. It was so small, but it was suffocating. Like a collar around his neck. He pushed his leg in harder, until Kenoh groaned and reached up both of his arms, falling back onto the pillows and grabbing for Hayato’s neck, pulling him down with him. 

Kenoh bit at his ear with no small amount of force, tugging the lobe with his teeth, until Hayato grunted. It wasn’t enough for Kenoh, so he closed his lips around both piercings on his lobe, and he sucked, pulling them in, pulling Hayato in. Kenoh ran the pads of his fingers along the shell of his other ear, and Hayato made a sound as though had been cracked open, silently begging Kenoh to touch more of him, all of him. 

“Off.” Kenoh finally said, pulling his lips away, satisfied. Hayato pulled himself back as well, sliding himself backwards onto Kenoh’s legs. Hayato blinked, shaking himself out of the daze Kenoh had put him in, staring in confusion before Kenoh raised his hips, gently forcing him off. Hayato then smiled, almost lazily, rolling over onto the bed and falling onto the pillows. 

“You could just say you wanted to get undressed first,” Hayato couldn’t help but tease a little. It was nice to have Kenoh like this, communicating only with gestures and actions. He liked to run his mouth so much; it was almost cute to have him act a little dishonest. 

“You’re one to fucking talk. Still in your sweatpants. Shirtless. Do you have any idea what you look like, getting so eager like that?” Kenoh kicked himself off the bed, landing on his feet, facing away from the mattress. 

He started with his belt and pants, already undone. He whipped off the belt and pulled the pants down, bending over as he pulled the jeans off of his thighs and down his knees. The definition of his ass showed even through his boxers, and Hayato rolled down his own sweats, pushing his hand into his underwear. Kenoh hadn’t meant to put on a show, but it was impossible not to enjoy the view. With him reaching up to pull at his shirt, his back muscles squeezing together at his shoulders, his biceps flexing as they raised above his arms, everything rotating under his warm tanned skin. 

Kenoh heard a strangled breath and turned around as he pulled his shirt off completely. Hayato was staring at him, laying back on the bed, head turned towards where he was undressing. His body was splayed out, chest slowly rising and falling, stroking his cock under his boxers, sweatpants around his knees. There was an easy smirk on his lips, as though Kenoh was giving everything he wanted, even without touching him. As though Kenoh were the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. 

Kenoh opened his mouth, if only to catch his own breath. But then Hayato rolled his head back, looking towards the ceiling as he continued to touch himself, pulling at his cock with more force, lithe back arching off the bed. The light from the bedside table lamp caught the right side of the man’s head, his earrings glistening. And suddenly Kenoh didn’t care about speaking, didn’t care about breathing. He only cared about getting his hands on Hayato. 

Hayato huffed out a shallow, breathless laugh, marveling at how cooperative his rival had suddenly become. Kenoh climbed onto him, naked save for his underwear, hard and leaking. All from a glimpse of a simple piercing. He slid down, their erections touching through their boxers, grinding aimlessly as he mouthed at Hayato’s ear, licking the ridge, nibbling at the helix. Hayato threw his head back, fingers kneading into Kenoh’s ass like he would fall away if he were to let go. 

Hayato wondered exactly how far he could take this. If he could wear it only when he wanted to use Kenoh, a secret symbol between them. He wondered if he could train the other man with it. If he could finally tame Kenoh and make him Hayato’s completely, with just this tiny little earring. If he could put it on and have Kenoh instantly at his side, salivating like a dog who just heard a bell. 

The thought was too much. Kenoh's breath at his ear suddenly became far too hot. He pushed himself away and Kenoh tumbled back harmlessly, giving him space. Kenoh licked his lips, and Hayato wondered just how far Kenoh would take this too. All of this. 

Hayato grabbed for Kenoh’s ankles and tugged, urging him downward. He pulled him until he was underneath him again, enough to do a full mount. It was nice to just be able to look up at him like this, Kenoh decided, rolling his head back to take in more of Hayato. He reached his hands up again, entranced, running his fingers across his shaved fuzz, into his light curls, thumbs sweeping against the tips of his ears, finding the bit of metal and wiggling it back and forth. 

Hayato was completely breathless as he let Kenoh slowly guide his head lower, all the way down. He shifted back, mouthing at Kenoh’s erection through his boxers before threading his fingers under the waistband. Kenoh shifted his hips with a pleased hum, eyelashes fluttering as he gave Hayato room to slide his boxers off completely. 

“I’m taking you tonight,” Hayato finally murmured against Kenoh’s cock, before grabbing the base and taking him in completely. Kenoh tried to laugh, but air was swiftly knocked out of his lungs at the hot feeling of Hayato's mouth. He flexed his fingers and bucked his legs, searching for any semblance of calm. 

“Mmm. What makes you say that?” He finally managed. “You clearly have other ideas, getting me all ready for your ass like this. You clearly wan- _ shit _ .” Kenoh’s grip around Hayato’s hair tightened as the man below him took him in lower, hitting the back of his throat. He shifted his hands lower, spreading his legs wider, pushing for more, hungry and insatiable. He threw his head back and let Hayato work, words dying on the tip of his tongue. 

Hayato smiled around Kenoh’s cock, lapping at him with his tongue before pulling away. “Sorry. Did you want to argue?” He knew he was good. He knew what Kenoh wanted. He felt drunk on it, watching Kenoh slowly gyrating underneath him, searching for purchase, searching for scraps of whatever Hayato wanted to give. 

Kenoh responded with only a grunt, before closing his hands around Hayato’s head again, this time letting his fingers rest on the back of his ears, stroking along the skin there, sending tremors down Hayato’s spine, calling him back towards Kenoh’s crotch. “Come on,” Kenoh finally managed to choke out, voice growing rougher and rougher with each breath. “Back to work, Hayato-kun.” 

Hayato wanted to roll his eyes at that, but then Kenoh moved the pads of his fingers in circles, closer to the tips of Hayato’s ears, growing red from both touch and arousal. Hayato groaned, rational thought abandoned, closing back around Kenoh’s crotch. He let his lips suck against the tip, controlling Kenoh’s shallow thrusts. He glanced up, a single eyebrow raised. Kenoh’s eyes were slammed shut, but he seemed to know what Hayato was asking for anyway, and he finally moved his hands, fumbling for purchase. And then he found what he was looking for, the little ring on Hayato’s right ear. His ring.  _ Kenoh’s  _ ring. And he pulled. 

Hayato’s vision blurred for a glorious, agonizing moment and it was all he could do to swallow Kenoh down as far as he could go. It was all he could do to swallow the words that were building up inside of him. His sweet nothings and his begging and his confessions and secrets. His possessiveness and his violence and his desires to keep Kenoh for himself forever. To tell Kenoh everything. To confess for the first time in his life that he didn’t want to be lonely. 

Perhaps that ring had tamed him too, he thought, as Kenoh’s breathing became loud and sharp and uncontrolled. He squeezed Kenoh’s thighs, moaning impatiently around his cock, jaw growing sore. He slapped at Kenoh’s thigh once, before gesturing for him to finally let go. To just use Hayato. To make Hayato feel better for wanting so badly to use Kenoh. 

Kenoh couldn’t refuse an earnest request like that. He never could. He shuddered and exhaled as he came, taking his fingers off the upper ring for only a moment, still moving the tips of fingers along Hayato’s sensitive ears, in a dazed trance. “Hayato…” The man was milking him, trying to drive him to the point of oversensitivity, and Kenoh didn’t have the strength to pull him off. He felt boneless, eyes glued onto the earring as though hypnotized by it, as though looking at it wiped his mind clean of everything he’s done in Michinoku. Every sin he’s committed. Every way he’s hurt Hayato. 

He barely noticed when Hayato pulled away, only coming back to himself when Hayato pulled at his legs and pushed Kenoh backwards until he was laying firm on his back again. “Get yourself ready for me. I’m cleaning myself up.” Hayato was nearly shaking as he dropped the lube onto Kenoh’s body, stuck on the absent and satisfied smile on Kenoh’s face. Stuck on the effect he had on the man. 

Finally, Kenoh came back to himself. He rolled his eyes, his smile now thinly veiled as he uncapped the bottle with a small raise of his eyebrows. Hayato shook himself back into reality, under the comfort that this was still Kenoh. This was still the man who wanted to build a new scenery for Michinoku. This was still the man who took everything from him. Taking everything back like this was the natural response. It was a two-way revenge. It wasn’t love. 

He rinsed out his mouth in the bathroom sink and imagined what Kenoh must look like right now, spent and weightless but still working himself open with his fingers. Just for Hayato. He grabbed a condom and nearly tore it while sliding it on. He wasn't in love, he reminded himself, one more time. 

Kenoh felt a thrill of revenge when Hayato exited the bathroom, arching himself back as he worked himself open, desperately and thoroughly. His hair was plastered to his face, the long strands falling to his shoulders, clinging to his neck. He licked his lips, this time slowly and deliberately. He knew he looked good. He knew he looked  _ used _ . He knew it by the way Hayato’s jaw dropped open and his chest shuddered. "Oy, Hayato-kun. You see what it's like? Turning around and seeing someone touching themse-"

"Shut up," Hayato's voice was a growl but his heart felt strangely light. He plucked the lube from Kenoh’s side and sat on his knees between Kenoh’s legs, stroking himself while Kenoh adjusted his timing to match, adding a third finger as he worked himself open. And Kenoh did shut up- just for that moment- and they watched each other in silence, comfortable with each other, legs touching and eyelids fluttering in barely controlled rapture. 

It couldn’t last. Hayato couldn’t last. Not under the pressure of his own hand and not under this serene illusion of romance. He tugged at Kenoh’s wrist and the man below him grunted, pulling out slowly as he shifted his hips, until he knew he was truly ready for Hayato. And Hayato thought he was ready for Kenoh, until he finally sunk into him and Kenoh met him with a long kiss, sucking at his lower lip, savoring him, memorizing the taste with a groan in his mouth. He only fell back once he was satisfied, once he had his fill. And then he finally, finally, let Hayato take his. 

In truth, Kenoh loved how Hayato looked when he fucked him, but it was unthinkable to keep his eyes open. It was too difficult to look at him, all lean muscle and far away eyes, lips hanging open on the edge of words he couldn’t seem to find. He couldn’t face the man’s sheer resilience, his ability to withstand and fight through, no matter what Kenoh gave him. Couldn't face these things that he grew to love. Couldn’t face the fact that Kenoh loved them. 

And he absolutely couldn’t face that earring, that one single sincere gesture that gave him the impossible hope that Hayato loved him back. 

So he wrapped a single arm around the back of Hayato’s neck and pulled him down. And then he slammed his eyes shut and grit his teeth around the small helix piercing and he  _ pulled.  _ He pulled and stretched and gripped his legs together until Hayato screamed, thrashing his head away as his cock twitched inside of Kenoh, hollowing out completely. 

Hayato went boneless, and Kenoh let him. They both laid there, with Hayato on top of Kenoh, both slick with sweat, Hayato nuzzling into Kenoh’s neck and Kenoh flicking the little earring back and forth with his index finger. And for the first time in years, neither of them thought about anything at all. 

“I could take you to the parlor, get you all done up,” Hayato said, and his voice felt far away, his chest pushed into Kenoh’s like he was sinking into him. “You’d look good.” 

“My hair would cover it, dumbass.” Kenoh finally moved his hand to play with Hayato’s hair idly, watching the curls emerge from the sweat as he ran his fingers through. There was a light huff to his voice, and Hayato buried his head deeper into Kenoh’s neck so he didn’t have to see his soft smile. 

“Doesn’t have to be your ears. What about your tongue? You sure like to use it enough. Might as well make it enjoyable for me while we’re at it.” Hayato snorted and finally pulled himself out, slowly as Kenoh shifted under him. 

“What the fuck is wrong with you? You’re the one who just sucked me off like it was your new religion. You get  _ your  _ tongue pierced, you masochistic bastard.” Kenoh huffed loudly as Hayato started to climb off the bed to wash up. Hayato laughed, deep from his chest, and Kenoh felt his entire face twitch as he tried not to laugh with him, holding together appearances. If not for Hayato’s sake, then for his own. 

“Typical,” Hayato sighed, not really disappointed and not really sure if he wanted to see what Kenoh would even look like, all dressed up in piercings and dyed hair. Kenoh climbed out of bed after him and joined him in the bathroom. He looked at them both in the mirror for a long moment, and decided it was for the best that they stayed this way. They looked good that way, Kenoh dark and Hayato light, perfectly matching in every way they contrasted. 

Once they both cleaned up, Hayato didn’t even pretend to get dressed and head for the door. He didn’t need to hear Kenoh asking him to stay, not after tonight. So he fell into bed and grabbed for his bag with one arm, fishing around in it until he found his jewelry case, rolling onto his back as he took out each lower hoop, one by one placing them back in. 

Kenoh watched as he climbed into bed as well, eyes dancing across each piece as Hayato pulled it out, with the same care he did before each title match. Only, in the ring it was always to hide his weaknesses, to show his dedication and determination. Now there was a softness to it, a casual intimacy in the silence of their shared hotel room. 

Still, Kenoh couldn’t let him take off the last earring. His hand clamped around Hayato’s wrist automatically, gently squeezing. And Hayato widened his eyes as he looked over at the earnest and nearly unreadable expression on Kenoh’s face, furrowed and serious. “Do you need to take them all off to sleep or something?” 

“It’s better to, yeah.” Hayato shrugged, and Kenoh just hummed and dropped his hand, nodding and kicking his way under the covers. And Hayato felt himself quickly backtracking. “But I can keep it in. Sometimes. Just once, if you want me to.”

Kenoh looked Hayato dead in the eye, brows furrowed and jaw clenched, and he nodded. Because when Hayato took the earring off, he wouldn’t be his anymore. And Kenoh didn’t want that. Not until they woke up and got back to their regular lives, when Kenoh got back to his regular obsessions. “I want you to.” 

It was the answer he wanted to hear, but Hayato still hated hearing it with so much sincerity dripping off of all four words. So he simply grunted and turned over, flicking off the light. And then he paused, and turned to his other side, right side up, earring where Kenoh could see. He felt Kenoh’s fingers hovering over it a minute later, and Hayato snorted. “Touch it and I’m taking it out, bastard.” 

Kenoh in response turned off the lamp on his own side of the bed, washing the room over in darkness. And he turned over as well, to look at Hayato one last time before closing his eyes.  He stared at the earring, the gold still shining in the hotel room washed over in the dull moonlight, stark against Hayato's pale skin. And he wondered if he could keep this to himself forever. If Hayato would make the ring his own, wear it forever as a permanent piece of his skin. 

Or if he’d one day take it out and put it away forever, letting the hole close up like an old battle wound, healing itself long after Kenoh was gone.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!


End file.
